Category Archives: Salads

My daughter has recently turned two years old. I threw her a big party. I wanted to make as much as I could myself. I took on a potato salad for the first time. It was blog worthy and a huge success at the party. I started by looking up some recipes on line to see what my basic ingredients were. I found one I liked and I referred to it for ingredients not necessarily amounts.

I started by dicing up my potatoes (about 5 -6 Cups). I used Red skin potatoes. I boiled the potatoes until softened but still able to hold their shape. I let them cool overnight in the refrigerator.

A friend of mine who is a Beachbody coach (visit her page here!), invited me to join a challenge that she was doing. It started yesterday. It’s a five day challenge to eat clean every day. 1200 to 1300 cal per day, three meals, two snacks. No processed foods, no pop, and very little sugar, exercise at least 30 minutes per day. Yesterday I started my journey towards health. My reasons for wanting to get healthy are my children. I want to be around for them for a long time. I have also found out recently that I have a condition called joint hypermobility syndrome or JHS. With that comes pain in my joints because they easily rotate past normal range of movement, and that causes inflammation and sometimes scar tissue. In the past, exercising has been tough for me because I get injured easily and then take weeks to heal. I also suffer from anxiety and insomnia that I believe is partly due to JHS, and fibromyalgia goes along with it. I often feel very fatigued, and that’s frustrating. Now, more than ever, it’s imperative that I become healthy, not just for me but for my family. I’m going to take you guys along with me on this journey as I learn how to eat healthily and exercise every day.

Yesterday was my first day, and I suffered a terrible headache due to my body having withdrawals from caffeine and possibly sugar. For my exercise I rode my bike for about 20 minutes (not very long due to headache). And this is what I had to eat…

This was the first omelette I’ve ever made! It’s a broccoli and feta cheese omelette. It was really tasty, but next time I would put some tomatoes in it ’cause it was also a little dry. I paired it with a side of half a piece of Ezekiel bread.

Then for my morning snack I had some yogurt with a little bit of honey. The recipe called for grapefruit peel, but I’m not a fan of peel unless they are organic, and I didn’t have any organic citrus peels. So I left those out and squeezed a little bit of lemon into it, and it was delicious!

Lunch was a spinach and chicken salad. I boiled the chicken in water with curry powder for little extra boost of flavor. I had cooked the chicken ahead of time because I knew it would be hard for me, as a mom of two, to have the time to cook chicken for lunch. So it was already in the refrigerator when it was time for lunch. Super easy!

Then, the hardest part was waiting for this PM snack. These turkey rollup’s are delicious! I had two. You just take two slices of turkey lunch meat, and spread a soft cheese on it, I used Laughing Cow cream cheese. The recipe also called for avocado slices, but mine aren’t ripe! A nice goat cheese would be really great on this.

My headache was killing me by dinner time. I had been drinking lots of water hoping that I could steer it off. But that didn’t really work because it was from a lack of caffeine and a lack of sleep. But I did manage to make dinner; these fish tacos were really, really good. I used my Mahi-Mahi and replaced the avocado with sour cream. Darn unripe avocados! These have a tasty, spicy cabbage slaw to bulk them up. They were really filling though, and super tasty!

So with all my cooking and eating done, I went to sleep early to try to get rid of my headache. Thankfully today it’s gone. I’ve already done my workout today, and made breakfast, two snacks, and lunch to send with my hubby to work! I got my T25 in the mail yesterday, and did my first workout today, and it was AWESOME. I’ll tell y’all about today’s success in my post tomorrow! Be healthy!

I am somewhat new to a three bean salad. I have never made one before, although I have had them in restaurants and I liked it. I decided to give it a go. I really, really liked what I made. I can’t stop eating it!

It is delicious really, really delicious! Making a three bean salad is fast and simple. It is great for a side dish for dinner. I used:

half and onion

3 stalks celery

1 green pepper

1 can of whole kernel corn

1 can red kidney beans

2 cans black beans

1 can garbanzo beans

1 Tbsp dried parsley

1 tsp dried rosemary

1/8 cup white vinegar

1/8 cup lemon juice

3 Tbsp Olive oil

1 Tbsp garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

a couple splashes of balsamic vinegar

Chop and dice all the veggies to the size you like and place in a large bowl. I like a little chunk here and there so I rough chopped them. Drain and rinse all the beans and add them to the veggies. Next in a separate bowl add the rest of the ingredients and mix well them pour over the beans and veggies. I then put all the bean mixture in a zip-lock baggie and let it sit on the counter for about thirty minutes, to let all the flavor meld together and give the dried herbs a chance to absorb some of the liquids. Viola!! I love it! I literally can’t get enough! Hope you enjoy as much as I did!

These images are not mine. They belong to the blog owners I have featured here. Click the pictures and follow the links to even more delicious food blogging. Visit those blogs and share the love. Try their recipes. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed!